Revel Recap: February 1 - 5, 2021
Welcome back, Rebels! We were so happy to have you back in the studios this week!
Spark Studio
Mindfulness & Launch
We had a very busy and fun-filled week in the Spark Studio! Everyone was so happy to see one another and we spent our first morning back sharing what we had all been doing while we were away. We also welcomed a new Rebel into our studio and we are so happy to have him join us! Due to our new arrival, we felt it was the perfect time to review and discuss our studio contract, reminding ourselves of the promises we have made. After reading Germs vs. Soap we also reviewed the ways we can keep ourselves safe such as washing our hands and using our own materials. This week we continued some of the breathing exercises we had been using during our Zoom calls. We also did some stretching and the Sparks enjoyed being trees and thinking of the different ways we could move our bodies to look like branches swaying in the wind. Some of our mornings we began by colouring in a doctor's kit and a Groundhog Day picture. On Tuesday, we learned more about Groundhog Day and some facts such as what they do to keep their teeth from growing too long, what they eat, and we couldn’t believe how big their underground burrows are! We then did a directed drawing of a groundhog. Be sure to check out our window for their cute pictures!
The Sparks were eager to get back into our routines and work with the materials we had all been missing! There was a lot of hard work happening and a buzz of excitement as they completed their activities. We built upon our discussions of measurement from last week where we focused on length and the terms “long” and “short.” This week we spoke about “heavy” and “light.” We went on a scavenger hunt and found items in the studio that were lighter and then heavier than our sanitizer bottle. We then discussed how size affects weight. Does bigger always mean heavier? We looked at a marble and talked about how it is heavier than the feather, even though it is smaller. We then looked at a beach ball and observed that it is lighter than a baseball even though it is bigger. We brainstormed some more examples. We continued our scavenger hunt the next day, this time selecting five items from around the studio. We then ordered them from lightest to heaviest and shared our findings. One Spark said they didn’t want to guess and used the scale to make an accurate order. We then applied our knowledge by cutting out pictures of heavy and light items and placing them under the correct heading in our math book. The Sparks also had time to explore with our building materials and loose parts, creating all sorts of fun play and story building. Checkers and Hungry, Hungry Hippo were some studio favourite games this week!
Quest
We used some of our Quest time to organize our binders and bins with the materials we had brought back from home and to review all the learning we completed online. We talked about the five senses, the food groups, growth mindset, and facts that we had learned about the human body. This led to our new discussion on doctors. After reading a book about a trip to the doctor, the Sparks shared a time when they visited the doctor. They talked about times when they were sick and getting medicine, going for a checkup, or receiving a vaccine. We also discussed what kind of tools a doctor might use to help assess their patients. The Sparks had a lot of fun receiving their doctor badges and setting up a clinic. We took turns bringing in our stuffed animal patients and discussing with the doctor what was wrong. The doctor filled out a checklist, checked out the patient, and then diagnosed and helped them. They were prescribing medicine, checking eyesight, putting on casts and bandages and using the stethoscope to listen to the heart. One of their favourite parts was using the light table and pictures of X-rays. They would take an X-ray, determine what the issue was and then proceed to use paper to make the casts for the patients. It was great to see everyone use their imagination and enjoy the dramatic play. This week we also read about how we all have unique fingerprints and how no two people have the same. We tested this by using tape and a pencil to create our fingerprints on paper and comparing them with each other. We then learned about the three main patterns that are in fingerprints which are the arch, loop and whorl. We looked closely at our fingerprints and identified any patterns we had.
French
This week as we reunited in the Spark Studio for French, we got to spend some time with Mme. Marie, who will be continuing French for the remainder of the year. We started off with our calendar, continued with a French read-aloud, and then played some games. On Tuesday, we played a Bingo game which had pictures of the parts of the body as well as winter vocabulary. Sparks did such a great job at tidying up and helping one another find the pictures on their Bingo cards. On Thursday, we played a game called “Cherche et Trouve.” Sparks were in groups of two and had a game card of a scene with many pictures and objects hidden in the game card. They would look and listen to the word and picture in French that Mme. Talina or Mme. Marie would say and have to find the object in their game card. When they found it they would shout “TROUVÉ” and they would receive the card with the image on it. The team with the most cards was the winning team.
Additional Highlights
We took advantage of some of the warmer days this week and enjoyed our time outside. We went sledding at the hill where we also had fun exploring the forest and climbing trees. We spent time playing in the deep snow in the field, climbing, jumping into the snow and creating stories and games with the huge snowballs we found. We also went to the park, and everyone commented how much they had missed it. Those with helmets on enjoyed exploring on the ice and others had fun on the swings and playing a studio-wide game of pirates. It was hard work trekking through the deep snow to get to these different locations but the Sparks worked hard and we got our exercise in! We had a lot of energy this week and when we weren’t outside we continued to move by spending time in the gym building forts, playing balloon games, grooving to movement songs, and playing “What Time is it, Mr. Wolf?”
On Friday we read the book Boxitect to inspire us for the Cardboard Challenge. We took time in the morning to share with each other some ideas we had for what we wanted to build. In the afternoon we put our plans into action, designing and building some amazing creations! The Sparks worked hard creating a bird, a train, a huge fort with storage inside, special boxes for our stuffed animals and more! Be sure to ask your learner about the process and their creations!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
As voted on by the Rebels, Mindfulness now incorporates guided yoga classes three times each week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The focus for yoga this week has been “building on breath,” taking a simple flow (6-7 movements) and repeating them as we cycle through inhales and exhales rather than actual movement cues. Rebels had a lot of fun and are looking to build on this challenge next week! Tuesday and Thursday remain mindful colouring periods, where Rebels continued to work on their artwork and mandalas from last week’s Bell Let’s Talk discussion.
Launches
For our first launch of the week, we took some time to introduce ourselves and meet our newest addition, Mme. Marie. We are excited to get to know her better in the coming weeks as she takes on the role of our French and Lower Elementary Guide! Tuesday’s launch was dedicated to the significance of Black History Month and how it is incredibly important and also problematic to dedicate just one month to the stories and learning opportunities that come from exploring multicultural perspectives. We discussed some key takeaways and questions. What are some things we can do moving forward to ensure we do more to incorporate a more inclusionary history in school? Why is it important to explore history from various perspectives? We wrapped up with Viola Desmond’s story and how she contributed to changes in Canadian Civil Rights history.
Session 4 tends to be the point in the year where we need to review our school’s mission and check-in to see if we are remaining true to our student-led vision and culture of warm-heartedness and tough-mindedness. The Rebels were guided through the following discussion. Imagine this, you are the founder of a brand new business. (Take time to imagine which business it would be!) You spend 3 years, $30K and A LOT of free labour to get everything set up. You begin to make a lot of sales and are able to hire a team to help you serve customers and continue to build your business. On this first day, you wonder if these team members understand why they are here - and how special this opportunity is. You realize that you need a little more clarity in your mission - in what your new business is all about and what makes it different from others. Rebels then answered questions as to how they would unite everyone on the same page and start building the culture together. They debated who “owned” the mission and who needed to fully understand and drew the parallel to how what we are building at Revel is similar. We discussed the purpose of our school as well as our favourite parts of being a Rebel. By the end of the discussion, there was a renewed sense of purpose and gratitude for the opportunity to create our learning community.
Thursday’s Current Events followed some of the most popular stories trending this week such as the Super Bowl Commissioner surprising Frontline Workers with Super Bowl Tickets, the talents of Nia Dennis and Elladj Balde (two athletes who are changing the game in both figure skating and gymnastics), and an entertaining wrap up of this past week’s hilarious "Live From Snack Time" tweets! We ended our week with some housekeeping items such as our February Camp schedule and plans, Valentines Day vote, and getting inspired for the afternoon Cardboard Challenge with various pictures of potential ideas!
Rebel Readers & Warrior Writers
Draw/Anchor Rebels: Working on the good copies for our Animal Reports was the focus of our class this week. Ms. Jenna was so impressed with the work ethic the Rebels brought to the table on Wednesday! Draw and Anchor Rebels developed stronger paragraphs and sentences that are well structured and detailed and began the good copy of the scientific labelled diagram of their animal. Way to go, Rebels!
Aim/Release Rebels: The Reader-Writer Lap Books are well underway and Rebels are feeling a lot more confident about their projects! Ms. Jenna is really impressed with the amount of work that was accomplished at home over the past month! After reviewing everyone’s notebooks she was thrilled with the completion of spelling tests and research notes! We have two more full periods to complete our final projects for this session and we look forward to seeing your Lap Books come to life!
Reader Writer Fridays: We had a big list of options for our Rebels this Friday to wrap-up a spectacular first week back! Rebels were given the time to work on what they needed to for their Reader Writer Badge. Many worked on their Animal Lap Books and Animal Reports. Some opted for Preposterous Paragraphs to edit in pairs, while others reached ahead and worked on a Black History Month presentation or February literacy challenge. Rebels have truly hit the ground running in Reader Writer this week and we are so proud of the progress that was made!
Math Lab
On Monday’s Math Lab with the Draw and Anchor Rebels, we collected our Math Facts That Stick packets from our time at home and played math games for the remainder of the class. It was so nice to catch up with the group and you could tell how happy they were to work on their math skills together.
Our Aim and Release Rebels began their Math Lab session reviewing their Pascal’s Triangle findings from three weeks ago. We then investigated and asked questions about what would happen if we changed the constraints by choosing new numbers for our sides. All of the Rebels dug right into the challenge and while they were asked to struggle with the problem for at least 20 minutes, every single Rebel chose to work on it for as long as it took to complete! Collaborative math games were then picked and played for the remainder of the period.
Quest
We began our week with a review of biodiversity and the importance of different habitats, genetic diversity, and keystone species. We then collected our boxes full of assignments and supplies, organized the contents, and handed in completed work, before playing animal-themed games including Guess Who, BINGO, and solving puzzles! On Tuesday, Rebels had one-on-one meetings with Mrs. Erin to assess what was done and what work needed to be completed before earning their Quest badge for Session 4. The Rebels completed an activity on Physical and Behavioural Adaptations as well as a Venn diagram comparing two different species. We took our study of adaptations into our own hands with a bird beak simulation on Wednesday. Each Rebel was assigned a tool such as a clothespin, slotted spoon, chopsticks, or tongs and was asked to rotate through six stations of different “food sources.” With their tools, they had to fill their stomachs (cups) as quickly as they could in a 30 second period before counting their catch. It quickly became apparent that each tool was meant for a specific purpose and at the end of the simulation, we reflected on which bird each beak likely belonged to using our example posters and how a bird would be affected if they were moved to a new habitat. Quest on Wednesday ended with a lizard challenge! Rebels were tasked to decorate a paper lizard in order to provide camouflage and hide it somewhere visible in the studio. Rebels did a great job and found some awesome ways to keep their lizards hidden in plain sight! Our last Quest period of the week was spent playing a series of review games such as “Survival Tag” which helped to further illustrate food chains as Rebels were split into predators versus prey. We also played a game of “Scoot” where learners had to match-up clues with the vocabulary term it was defining and ended with a round of “I Have...Who Has” to further cement our understanding of the terms used throughout our unit. With a strong foundation in biodiversity, Rebels are now ready to begin their Biomimicry unit this next week!
French
This week in French, Rebels worked hard to finish up the work required to earn their French Badge. We began Tuesday’s session playing ice breaker games to get to know Mme. Marie better and allow her to get to know us. We also spent time correcting and going over the worksheets from our first four weeks, taking the time to review any concepts that were not understood. Rebels from the intermediate group were so helpful with Rebels from the beginner group which was greatly appreciated!
Lastly, Rebels addressed their letters, sealed them and dropped them in the mailbox to be sent to residents living at the Revera Carlingview Manor Long Term Care Home. For some, it was the very first time they had ever written and sent a letter through the mail, such a sweet and special experience. We cannot wait to see if we get some responses!
PE
Monday’s P.E. was a full-body stationery circuit. We did a Ladder (2-8, 8-2) of five exercises that incorporated cardio and strength training with bodyweight. The other option offered was a walk/hike for all of the learners. Wednesday’s Boxing class was a review of key hand and hit combinations, with a Simon Says challenge to see how well our Rebels knew their “number combos!” We wrapped up both classes with a 2-minute burnout holding a plank or wall sit for the entire time. Wednesday’s walk evolved into a sliding competition where each learner slid down the hill and tried to complete a move or trick. The hills and tracks behind the school are an amazing resource for us!
Additional Highlights
We took full advantage of the warm weather this week and enjoyed our time sledding at the hill and skating at the park. We also had so much fun building during Friday’s Cardboard Challenge! Thank you all for sending in your boxes, the Rebels created hockey drills, forts, weapons, vehicles, and more!
*A special thank you to all of the guides and Rebels for the incredible birthday celebration you threw for Mrs. Erin!
Exploration Studio
Launch
As we celebrate Black History this month, our launches were focused on learning and celebrating historical figures, music and sports. Next week we'll be learning about the culture, food, fashion, and more inspiring historical figures.
Monday: We learnt about The Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes and finished off with a group mindful activity.
Tuesday: We learned about Harriet Tubman and her role in the underground railroad. We also listened to the song Wade in the Water which had hidden messages to help guide those escaping through the underground railroad.
Wednesday: We learned a brief history of the banjo and also listened to a song by Rhiannon Giddens, an American banjo musician.
Thursday: We watched a video about George Washington Carver, also known as the Plant Doctor.
Quest
This week Quest was focused on finishing our Human Body System displays and playing diagnosing games to practice for our Exhibition. Rebels were put into medical teams to write patient stories, create triage treatment plans, and play a version of Occam Razor’s diagnosing game. They also practiced their Human Body System display pitches in one-on-one sessions in order to receive and give feedback. On Monday, they will be presenting their pitches to the studio and we will vote on the top 3 to be presented at the Exhibition. On Friday afternoon, we enjoyed some popcorn while watching the first episode of the documentary series “Diagnosis” where Dr. Lisa Sanders crowdsources diagnoses for mysterious and rare medical conditions. Here is the trailer if you are interested in learning more or watching it as a family.
Big History
On Tuesday in Big History, we showed off the homemade “All About Me” history books that we have been working on for the past four weeks. Each learner had a chance to see everyone’s book and learn a lot about them. At the end of the work session, we ran a quick trivia game where each learner asked the group three questions that they could have learned by reading their peer’s book. On Thursday we started to review our year and get ourselves back on track about learning the history of everything! For the next three work periods, we will be creating a dramatic production about the themes we’ve learned so far in Big History. Next Thursday we will be presenting our productions.
Math Lab / Cardboard Challenge
This week in Math Lab, Exploration Rebels took part in the Cardboard Challenge! We had a taxi, cafe, home, hockey drill set-up with a goal, an air hockey table in progress, a crown, set of robotic legs, and of course at least a few weapons. It was fun to see every single Rebel in attendance engaged in this creative endeavour. Mrs. Erin and the Rebels are already brainstorming larger, long-term cardboard projects for a future session including a planetarium!
PE
Monday’s P.E. was a full-body stationery circuit. We did a Ladder (2-8, 8-2) of five exercises that incorporated cardio and strength training with bodyweight. The other option offered was a walk/hike for all of the learners. Wednesday’s Boxing class was a review of key hand and hit combinations, with a Simon Says challenge to see how well our Rebels knew their “number combos!” We wrapped up both classes with a 2-minute burnout holding a plank or wall sit for the entire time. Wednesday’s walk evolved into a sliding competition where each learner slid down the hill and tried to complete a move or trick. The hills and tracks behind the school are an amazing resource for us!
French
This week, as we welcomed Mme Marie, Rebels presented information about themselves in French and we played some games together so she could meet them and get to know their current language level. The beginner group finished writing their letters so we could send them to the long term care home and played some games of Guess Who in French to practice the use of the verbs “avoir” and “être.” With the intermediate group, we played a French version of Two Truths and a Lie (Deux Vérités et un Mensonge) we also found items around Revel that had French labels or instructions on it and read them out loud to see if we could learn new words from the resources that surround us every day. We finished by watching an episode of “Là où je dors” about a boy from Haïti named Pipo.
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Exploration: Which launch did you enjoy the most this week and why?
Exploration: What are you looking forward to most about the Exhibition next week?
Discovery: Name a new historical figure that you have learned about who has contributed to the Civil Rights Movement and/or history?
Discovery: What would you say is the main mission of what we are building together at Revel?
Helping you learn how to learn - so you can learn whatever you need to in life
Helping you gain a lot of skills you will use as an adult
Helping you become leaders with integrity
Helping you to discover your gifts and calling in life
Something else?
Spark: What did you create during the Cardboard Challenge? What materials did you use? Did you work with anyone? Did you run into any problems during the building process? How did you overcome the challenge?
Spark: Can you share about the doctor’s clinic you set up?
Spark: Where is your favourite place near Revel to go outside in the winter? (Field, Hill, Park) What do you like to do there?
Upcoming Events & Special Dates:
Exploration Exhibition: Wednesday, February 10th at 1:15 pm.
Discovery Virtual Field Trip with Little Rays Reptiles: Thursday, February 11th
Valentines Day and Chinese New Year Celebration: Friday, February 12th
Family Day: No School: Monday, February, 15th
February Camp: Tuesday, February 16th - Friday, February 19th
High School Informational Meeting: Thursday, February 18th at 7:00 pm on Zoom
Session 5 Begins: Monday, February 22nd
Pink Shirt Day: Wednesday, February 24th